In This Story
As of April 1st, Vera Lichtenberg has retired from MGTA. We are sad to see her go and wish her much joy and success moving forward!
Below is a message from Vera Lichtenberg.
"After much prayer and contemplation, it gives me both joy and sadness to announce that I am retiring as the Director of the Mason Game & Technology Academy and from George Mason University, effective April 1.
I founded MGTA in 2013, and since then building it from a small summer program into one of the largest STEM programs in the Commonwealth has been one of the most rewarding and exciting journeys of my professional life. MGTA’s success has been defined by the extraordinary students, teachers, families, and dedicated faculty that have taken this journey with me.
Thank you parents, grandparents, and guardians of all of our MGTA students you took a chance registering your children for a class in a program with the word “game” in it, and together we’ve watched their motivation and confidence in STEM blossom. Over the past decade, I’ve also seen hundreds of our students grow into focused and passionate undergraduates, many of whom became MGTA teachers, and a part of the MGTA and Mason family. I’ve also had the privilege of mentoring over 200 young MGTA student teachers, watching them transformed into confident, poised professionals.
Moving forward, Josh Emswiller will continue to smoothly guide MGTA into summer programming. Josh has long been part of the MGTA family—a Mason Computer Game Design graduate, a seasoned MGTA instructor, a professional modeler and animator, and my exceptional assistant.
As I move to the next phase of my life, I look forward to watching MGTA continue to grow and thrive!"
CVPA Dean Rick Davis joins us in celebrating Vera's tenure at MGTA:
As Dean of CVPA, I want to extend my thanks—and that of our entire college community—to Vera for her visionary creation and energetic stewardship of the Mason Game and Technology Academy. MGTA has had a formative impact on the lives of countless people through its innovative classes, workshops, and pedagogical developments, and Vera's mind and hand have been part of all of it. We will miss her, but trust that she knows that her work will carry on.
Rick Davis, Dean of College of Visual and Performing Arts
From the Mason Game and Technology newsletter, April 6, 2022